US3744365A - Mouthpiece for wind musical instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

In a wind musical instrument having a mouthpiece having an elastic air tunnel formed of elastic means in sheet form, a method of varying the pitch of the sound produced by said instrument comprising widthwise stretching said elastic means by applying lip pressure to said mouthpiece and varying said stretching by varying said lip pressure.

Description

Umted States Patent [111 3,744,365 Kordula July 10, 1973 [541 MOUTHPIECE FOR WIND MUSICAL 628,670 7/1899 McNamara 84/380 INSTRUMENT 1,513,950 11/1924 Widmayer 84/399 2,570,816 10/1951 Kimple 84/330 [76] Inventor: John Kordula, 322 Plantation Road.

Palm Beach, 33480 Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson [22] Filed; May 19 7 Assistant Examiner-Lawrence R. Franklin Att0meyWilliam L. Fisher [21] Appl. No.: 254,947

[57] ABSTRACT [52] 0.8. CI 84/330, 84/380, 84/453 In a wind musical instrument having a mouthpiece hav- [51] Int. Cl. Gl0d 7/00 ing an elastic air tunnel formed of elastic means in [58] Field of Search 84/330, 380, 384, sheet form, a method of varying the pitch of the sound 84/398, 399,453 produced by said instrument comprising widthwise stretching said elastic means by applying lip pressure to [56] References Cited said mouthpiece and varying said stretching by varying UNITED STATES PATENTS said hp Pressure- 3,339,444 9/1967 Brooks 84/398 3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Patented July 10, 1973 3,744,365

MOUTHPIECE FOR WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENT My invention relates to wind musical instruments.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a mouthpiece for wind musical instruments having an elastic air tunnel which is stretchable widthwise in accordance with the pressure of the players lips upon said mouthpiece, whereby to vary the pitch of the sound produced by the particular musical instrument.

The foregoing object of my invention and the advantages thereof will become apparent during the course of the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1-4 are, respectively, top plan, end elevational, and sectional views of a trumpet mouthpiece embodying my invention; and

FIGS. 5-7 are, respectively, similar views of another embodiment of my invention useful with brass wind instruments.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail and first to FIGS. 1-4, generally designates said embodiment shown therein which comprises an elastic body, being generally elliptical in front elevation and preferably formed of rubber, having a substantially vertical wall 12 and an elastic tunnel formed therein of vertically spaced apart elastic sheets 14 which project inwardly of said rear wall 12 and form an air passage 16 therebetween. Opposite sides of said sheets 14 are suitably bonded to posts 17, preferably made of metal, having outwardly bent inner ends 19 which bear against the inside surface of said rear wall 12. An inwardly projecting elastic peripheral flange 18 is integrally formed with said body around the outer edges of said rear wall 12 for holding the mouthpiece 10 in place on the inner end of a trumpet 20 which has a tapered body, generally elliptical in cross-section and preferably formed of plastic. Said inner trumpet end is concave in plan view as indicated at 22 and has high points or peaks 24 at opposite sides thereof upon which rockably rest said bent inner ends 19 when said mouthpiece 10 is assembled on the trumpet 20.

In operation of said mouthpiece 10 the player blows the trumpet 20 by pressing his lips against the rear wall 12 and while doing this he is able to variably apply lip pressure to said rear wall 12 which, by virtue of the concave structure 22, causes said rear wall 12 to assume an inwardly concave shape as shown in FIG. 1 which in turn pushes inwardly upon such inner ends 19 and causes them to rock on the ridges 24 and to spread apart the outer ends of said posts 17 which stretches the sheets 14 and narrows the air passage 16, thereby increasing the pitch of the sound produced in proportion to the amount of lip pressure applied to the rear wall 12. 1

Referring to FIGS. 57, the embodiment shown therein is designated 110 and like parts thereof in respect to the embodiment 10 are similarly designated with reference numerals prefaced with numerals in the series. The mouthpiece is assembled on a mouthpiece part 11 1 which has a cylindrical inner end for slidably fitting with conventional brass wind instruments. The inner end of said mouthpiece part 111 is constructed like the inner end of said trumpet 20 so as to have peaks 124 at opposite sides thereof upon which rockably rest the bent inner ends 1 19 when the mouthpiece 110 is assembled on the mouthpiece part 111. Said mouthpiece 110 operates substantially the same as the mouthpiece 10 except that the pitch variation produced thereby is available for each tone position of the particular brass wind instrument.

It will thus be seen that there has been provided by my invention a mouthpiece for wind musical instruments in which the object hereinabove set forth, together with many thoroughly practical advantages, has been successfully achieved. For example, a simple wind instrument such as the trumpet 20 and the mouthpiece 10 can be constructed which will enable the user both to produce a wide variation of tones over the musical scale and to become very adept at producing consonant tones with very little effort or wind power and without requiring continual practice to harden or condition the lips. While preferred embodiments of my invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood that variations and changes may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention as defined by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A mouthpiece for a wind musical instrument comprising,

a body having an end having a concave recess therein with peaks at opposite sides thereof,

a mouthpiece part comprising a peripheral flange for mounting said mouthpiece part on said body end, said mouthpiece part having a wall connected to said flange, said wall having a slit therein, said mouthpiece part having elastic sheet means projecting from said wall and defining therein a tunnel aligned with said slit, said mouthpiece part having means connected to said elastic sheet means having bent portions which rest on said peaks when said mouthpiece part is mounted on said body end whereby said bent portions rock on said peaks in response to changes in pressure on said wall so as to widthwise stretch said elastic sheet means and thereby vary the cross-section of said tunnel.

2. A mouthpiece as in claim 1 wherein said body is a flared tube tapering outwardly from said body end.

3. A mouthpiece as in claim 1 wherein said body is a part of a removable mouthpiece of a brass wind musical instrument.

Claims (3)

1. A mouthpiece for a wind musical instrument comprising, a body having an end having a concave recess therein with peaks at opposite sides thereof, a mouthpiece part comprising a peripheral flange for mounting said mouthpiece part on said body end, said mouthpiece part having a wall connected to said flange, said wall having a slit therein, said mouthpiece part having elastic sheet means projecting from said wall and defining therein a tunnel aligned with said slit, said mouthpiece part having means connected to said elastic sheet means having bent portions which rest on said peaks when said mouthpiece part is mounted on said body end whereby said bent portions rock on said peaks in response to changes in pressure on said wall so as to widthwise stretch said elastic sheet means and thereby vary the cross-section of said tunnel.

2. A mouthpiece as in claim 1 wherein said body is a flared tube tapering outwardly from said body end.

3. A mouthpiece as in claim 1 wherein said body is a part of a removable mouthpiece of a brass wind musical instrument.

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